Cheer Up, Little Bunny
by Neferit
Summary: Like, it was nice to finally be accepted to the Company by Thorin, but while everyone seemed not to hold him at such distance as before, he still was mostly just laughing-stock for them. At least it *felt* like that to him. Oneshot story.


**A/N:** Written for a prompt posted over at hobbit_kink meme:

_I'm crying over dumb things and feeling generally awful about myself, I was hoping someone could write something bursting with fluff and cheer to help me cheer up? Literally anything, though preferably centered around Bilbo._

I felt for something with Bilbo and Beorn, so here we are :)

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, but I really could kill for a plate of cookies. Also, anyone else being a bit like "wut", when people add your finished stories to their alerts? O_o

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**Cheer up, little bunny**

Like, it was nice to finally be accepted to the Company by Thorin, but while everyone seemed not to hold him at such distance as before, he still was mostly just laughing-stock for them.

At least it _felt_ like that to him.

The last thing that seemed to have them in stitches (judging from all the laughing) had been his 'fussy panic attack', as all of them (he didn't know who exactly started using the term during the first weeks of their journey, but it sure made him a bit self-conscious about ever mentioning anything related to Hobbits _ever again_) called it, over his missing buttons.

Sure, if those buttons were any other but the brass buttons marking him as Baggins of Bag End, son of Baggins and Took, he would probably just shrug over their loss and be done with it for the time being. But those buttons were important to him; important to all of the hobbits, just like the beads were important to the dwarves.

Hmpf, he would like to see _them_ being all cool over lost beads the way they all fussed over having to redo _one_ of their braids!

So he just gulped the tears that almost threatened to spill, shoved his nose up at the dwarves and marched out into the fields surrounding Beorn's house, quickly hiding in the greenery, completely ignorant to the calls of several dwarves who seemed to catch on the note that their fun was not all that funny.

He really liked Beorn's garden. It reminded him a bit of the Shire - well, apart from the huge bees that seemed to be working all around the place, buzzing around him, one of them even sitting on his shoulder for a moment, letting him pet it, before it flew away again.

He had lain on the ground and watching the clouds fly by, when a big shadow fell over him. "Little bunny keeps away from the rest of his company I see," rumbled Beorn's voice. The skinchanger carefully sat on the ground next to him, leaning on his hands, as he did the same as Bilbo. "The one over there," he pointed several minutes later, "looks like a fish."

"And the one there," pointed Bilbo in turn, a bit surprised, if pleasantly so, "looks like one of your bees."

"Do you see that one? I swear it looks like one of the dogs in the kitchen."

"Really? What about the one over there? I think it looks like a button."

They were quiet for a moment, before Beorn spoke again. "Your company made fun of hobbit buttons, didn't they?"

Bilbo sat up to look at the skinchanger, who was looking at him calmly, his dark eyes holding an understanding in them. "Yes," he mumbled, unable to hold Beorn's gaze. "Why would they be concerned about something so silly as _buttons,_ right?"

There had been thoughtful silence, before Beorn spoke again. "Many centuries ago," he began cautiously, "small people came across the land that belonged to my people. They were cheerful, no matter how tired they had been from their seemingly endless wandering, and brightened halls of Beornings with their songs, and charmed them with their bright spirits. In the end, this group of this small people spent the winter in our halls, and when came the time for them to leave, the oldest man of every family came before the chieftain of Beornings, and presented him with a small thing made out of brass, used to fasten their clothing, adorned by simple engravings, symbols of their bloodline, things of great importance to them."

Bilbo's head flew up at that. "Hobbits came across your lands and gave you their buttons?" he asked, awed. He knew number of things from the history of his people, but he couldn't remember anything about encounters with skinchangers. Unless...

"You were the Great Bear of East!" he exclaimed, looking at his host with wide eyes. The man just nodded, small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He rose up to his feet. "Come, litte bunny," he said, "I still keep those buttons - maybe some of them will suit your needs."

This time, when Beorn moved to lift Bilbo in his arms like a fauntling, Bilbo actually nestled in his arms comfortably, feeling warm in ways he didn't feel for what seemed like a very long time now; only their stay at Rivendell holding anything close to this great feeling. They chatted pleasantly all the way to the shed Beorn obviously used to keep various tools, and from what Bilbo could see now, as a place to keep various tokens as well.

There had been a big jar that Beorn took from one of the highest shelves, and it had been _full of buttons_.

It took Bilbo quite a long time to go through every of those buttons, explaining to Beorn what family every of the buttons meant; some of the lines ending centuries ago, while some united and created new ones, changing the symbols on their prized brass buttons. And to his surprise, there were buttons for both Bagginses and Tooks as well.

"You keep them," Beorn told him, when Bilbo showed the buttons to him with shining eyes. "The journey ahead of you is still long, and I fear it will be a dark one as well, little bunny."

For a momentt all Bilbo could do was to stare at Beorn with his mouth hanging open, the buttons gripped in his hands. Then he finally closed his mouth with a loud click, moving to hug the man's legs (since he didn't reach further then somewhere to his mid thighs). "Thank you," he whispered, his voice tight with tears he willed not to spill and feelings he didn't dare to put a name to.

They spent the rest of the evening in the shed, talking about everything (Beorn actually spoke Hobbitish, much to Bilbo's amazement, so they proceeded to speak in the language just for the hell of it) while Bilbo sewed the buttons on his vest, working as quickly as he could, to feel complete again.

Beorn carried him back to his house on his shoulders, both of them laughing merrily at some joke Beorn made, completely unminding the dwarves who grumbled over not understanding what they were speaking about (which made Bilbo to snicker with glee, when he rememebered all those times they spoke khuzdul around him just to exclude him from their talks).

When came the time to continue on their journey, Bilbo was really sad to leave - he hugged Beorn real tight, receiving a very strong embrace in return. "Till we meet again," he said to the sadly smiling Beorn, who just nodded his agreement. He kept on turning around and wave at the skinchanger until the figure waving back became only a differently coloured spot on the horizon, uncaring about the grumbling around him. It was only now that the dwarves noticed he had almost all his buttons again, and Bofur askied him about it.

Bilbo smiled. "Many centuries ago," he started his tale, his mouth forming a small smile, while his eyes focused on a point far, far away from where he was, "the Small Folk had been wandering through the wilderness, until they found halls of great bears on the East..."

And out of sight, but not out of the mind, Great Bear of East looked to the moon and thought of the cheerful songs, good food and sound of laughter.


End file.
